§ Mr. Wallasked the Minister of Overseas Development (1) if he will state the 298W number of offers made, the number accepted and the total acreage purchased during each year of the 500,000 acre farm resettlement scheme in Kenya;
(2) how much British aid has been allocated to each year of the first three years of the 500,000 acre resettlement scheme in Kenya; and how much will be available for the fourth year.
§ Mr. OramThere is no such scheme as a "500,000 acre" scheme but, as the hon. Member knows, there is a scheme by which it was envisaged that over a period of four years ending in March, 1970, a loan of approximately £6.3 million would be made available to the Kenya Government for the purchase of farms owned by United Kingdom citizens at a rate of up to 100,000 acres a year. This scheme is divided into three parts, i.e. the purchase of farms by the Kenya Agricultural Development Corporation, purchases by the Kenya Department of Settlement for low density settlement, and assistance to private purchases through the Kenya Land Bank. British aid for these purchases is not allocated on an annual basis. Of the total loan, £3.7 million—now increased to 4.15 million with the agreement of the Kenya Government-was allocated to the programme of purchases by the Agricultural Development Corporation. Just over £3 million has been committed to purchases during the first two years.
So far as purchases by the Agricultural Development Corporation are concerned, according to our latest information, 41 offers were made in the first phase and there were 27 acceptances, representing 57,477 acres. In the second phase, 59 offers were made with 45 acceptances so far, representing 63,575 acres. Two offers are still under consideration. So far as the other two parts of the scheme are concerned, up to the end of 1968 a total acreage of 86,890 had been purchased through the Land Bank with the help of British Government funds, and 16,132 by the Department of Settlement.